A sandwich blog that is on the lookout for the best sandwiches in the world. Based in Los Angeles, but frequently traveling until The Danger Sandwich is found.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Cold Weather, Warm Sandwich (Part 1)

Greetings Readers and Sandwich Lovers!

I am back from my trip to the East Coast, but not all had gone as planned.

Originally the goal for the blog was to not only sandwich in Philadelphia, but also New York and Washington DC. I had hoped to build up quite a collection of sandwich outings that I had been researching for months.

Numerous roadblocks surfaced with that plan.

For starters, I caught a stomach bug that was going around in the Northeast which sidelined sandwiching as my stomach fought back against me for a number of days, and caused me to cancel my trip to DC altogether.

Secondly, the entire week was absolutely freezing. The day I was in New York the high temperature was only 27. So I had to cut my trip short, but not before I revisited a place I hadn't been for about 6 years.

Carnegie Deli.

This place is known far and wide, even by people who had never been there or even in Manhattan.

I'm sure if you live in or spend more time in the city you could find many other quality delis, but this is THE one of prominence and fame.

Years ago I had tried THE sandwich of sandwiches here: The Woody Allen.

This is a sandwich that is stacked about 6 inches high with pastrami and corned beef with only four small triangles of rye bread keeping the two halves of the sandwich together. It was a monumental task that, sadly, I never finished.

This time around I figured I would tone it back a bit to have a sandwich that would be much more manageable to eat by one person in one sitting. I simply ordered a pastrami sandwich on rye, something that I haven't had in a few days.

Or hours.

Though not as tall as the Woody Allen, this sandwich was still stacked about 4 inches high with freshly sliced, warm pastrami.

This meat was absolutely delicious. Slow cooked for an extended period of time with the slight bite of pickling spices. The flavor was complemented well with spicy deli mustard that I added, but besides the meat, there wasn't anything else on the sandwich.

So while I did love this pastrami sandwich, it was essentially like eating a pile of delicious sliced meat with four scraps of bread. I would have enjoyed some onions, pickles, cole slaw or even Swiss cheese to top it off and add a little textural contrast to the sandwich, because as much as I love pastrami, I like a little variety too.

My return to Carnegie was much more successful than my previous visit, and while many people will enjoy a plain pastrami and bread sandwich, I was hoping for something above and beyond the usual. While the meat was some of the best pastrami I have ever tasted, this sandwich left me wanting more.

And so ended my trek through the cold streets of Manhattan. Wanting to stay for more sandwiching adventures, but absolutely too cold to wander anymore, I left looking for my next place to review in Philadelphia.